St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1887-11-24
MISCELLANY
A THANKSGIVING DINNER.
The PdHsy-


There are four of us young people at
home; first /, who am sixteen, then
there is a long gap, and next comes
Katie, who is eight, and Bessie, who is
six, and last of all baby Harry, who is
not yet two. But we were all a year
younger when what mean to tell you
of happened, for that was year ago.
spoke of Katie and Bessie and Har-
ry and myself as the young people, be-
cause l think l am rather too old to be
called child, and l didn't know how
else to put it, but don't at all mean
to call father and mother old. 1t is
true father has great many gray
streaks in his hair, but | think that is
more from care than from age.
1t makes me sad, however, very sad,
to see fathers hair changing color but
when | speak of it, he only laughs and
says: "The whites are gaining the as
tendency, and the aborigines becoming
extinct"
Father and mother have not looked
like themselves since the summer
mother was so i'll. That was the most
dreadful period of my life, | am sure.
For long time we thought she could
not recover. She was SO i'll, of course,
to begin with, and then the expense of
having a doctor and nurse preyed on
her mind and made against her.
really believe mother minded that
more than the pain she suffered AT
one time she got so nervous with
thinking of it, that she said DIR. May
visits did her more harm than good,
and declared she wouldn't see him
again but DR.. Armstrong, our minis
ter, happened to come in just then, and
he soon reasoned her out of all that
and made her see things differently.
There couldn't possibly be nicer
minister than DR.. Armstrong; can't
begin to say how much | love him
better, indeed, than anybody in ths
world, outside of home, except a dear
friend, Miss Judith Hepburn. Miss
Judith lives next door to us; she is
old and very poor she has, in fact,
nothing in the world but the house she
lives in, and so she occupies only one
of the rooms on the first floor, and
lives ON the rent from the others. But
Miss Judith is rs happy as if she pos
sessed all this world has to offer, and
happier, too, for that matter, and this
is because she is such true Christian.
"Whatever befalls us is good" she
says, "whether it comes in the shape
of prosperity or of adversely, because
everything is bestowed by loving
Hand"
| forgot to say, all this while, that
my name is Annie-Annie Gray-but
Miss Judith never calls me anything
but "Martha." She commenced this
when mother was ill, because | kept
SO busy, and perhaps, too, because
was "trOubled about many things" fol
indeed | was all during her illness
and for long time after, too, for the
debt we owed to the doctor and nurse
hung like black cloud over the house
hold. 1t is different with some people
but debt has always seemed a very Sc
riOus evil to us. | believe father has
dreaded it almost more than anything
else, and up to mothers illness, he had
always avoided it; but the demands
which sickness makes are very great,
and can't be easily disregarded.
All! how often have heard father
say "Owe no man anything" after
which he would always add, "whether
this is Divine command, or only low
ing counsel | cannot say, but, in either
case, shall not willingly disregard it,
Well, it was right funny, but soon
after mothers illness, DR.. Armstrong
commenced his Friday evening lee
lures to the congregation "On Secular
Matters" as he said in his notice.
Father took me to the first one, and
couldn't help giving his hand squeeze
when he gave out the subject, "Debts
How They are Made, and How They
May be Paid" l can't remember the
words he used, which is pity, but DR..
Armstrong; words, as well as his
thoughts, are forcible, but | know the
sense of it all was that debts are gen
orally commenced in a small way, lit
tie by little, little by little, they are
added one to the other, till presently
an account is presented to us of such
overwhelming proportions that we de-
spair of ever wiping it out. "But |
trust" he added, THAT none of my
friends who find themselves in this un-
happy situation will give way for il
moment to a feeling of discOuragement.
d Step by step have we been led into
trouble; let us retrace our way in like
manner, step by step. Begin from this
moment a system of judiciOus retrench-
ment; lay aside sums, never mind how
trifling, toward the liquidation of your
debt, and little by little it will melt
away, till, almost uncOnsciOusly to
yourself, it has disappeared, and you,
again Il free man, can look the whole
world in the face"
"Ah, that was practical! That was
what | needed !" said father, as we
came out after the lecture was over,
land [, for one, shall not approve the
doctrine and Immediately practice the
contrary No; from this very moment
l shall begin to retrench and put by.
All, Annie, "a word in season. how
good it is | was almost ready to de-
spair till now"
And that was the beginning of our
saving. First, coffee was given up ;
mother always drank tea, and so no one
was Inconvenience by that but father;
then butter was dispensed with, and
the cheapest meat and vegetables in
the market were selected, and mother
decided that so many things were I'M
necessary about our clothes, that Katie
declared after while mother would
think we could do without buttons on
our dresses. But my happy part of
the day, during all this anxious time,
was the twilight when there was no
work for me to do and l could run in
and sit by Miss Judith's bright little
fire and talk over things with her. 1t
was one of these evenings, after Miss
Judith's usual greeting of, "Well, Mar
tina, how has the work come on to-
day I" that said, Indeed, Miss Ju-
dith, L wish | were not such Martha,
and that | might choose the better
part like Mary. But then, what can
dot Wouldn't it be wrong for me to
throw things on mother when she isn't
strong, and don't you think our Saviour
would think so, tOOf Then, besides,
mother would have to be IA Martha,